Rotary engine.



PATENTED FEB. 14, 1905.

M. B. MILLS.

ROTARY ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 21904.

Patented February 14, 1905.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

MORTIMER B. MILLS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ROTARY ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 782,513, dated February 14, 1905.

Application filed November 2,1904. Serial No. 231,083. l

To @ZZ whom/'it nfl/ty concern.:

Be it known that I, MORTIMER B. MILLS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Rotary Engines, of which the following is a specification. w v

My invention relates to an improvement in the class of rotary engines in which the driving power is air, steam, or gas pressure exerted against a rotatable body to rotate it for power transmission; and it involves an entirely new departure in principle of construction and operation in the art. i

In its broadest conception my invention consists in combining a body and a cam-like abutment extraneous thereto and extending part way about it, one of said members being the rotatable power-transmitting element and the other being stationary with a cylinder supported on said body wholly between its center and perimeter and containing a reciprocable piston actuated by the driving power to en# gage immediately or intermediately the abutment for rotatingit if it be the rotatable member or to react against and rotate said body if it be the rotatable member.

In a less broad conception my invention consists in driving the rotatable power-transmitting element of the engine through the medium of a lever fulcrumed on the aforesaid body and connected with the aforesaid piston and against which the power of the fluid driving pressure is exerted to engage one end of the lever with the extraneous cam-like abutment for driving the latter'if it be, as it may, the rotatable power transmitting element or if, as preferred, the abutment 'be stationary and the power-transmitting element be the body carrying the actuating-lever for driving the latter by engagement of the free end of the lever with the abutment.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the embodiment of my invention in simple form, Figure l being a View thereof in sectional elevation, and Fig. 2 an enlarged section taken at the line 2 on Fig. l and viewed in the direction of the arrow.

In the drawings, A is the rotary powertransmitting body in its preferred form of a disk, having .hubs A A2 extending from its opposite sides about its apertured center and the hubs are provided ball-bearings CZ, while in the hubs are shown stuffing-boxes Z about mit the power of the shaft in rotating.

Adjacent to the perimeterof the disk, and thus extraneously thereof, is provided a stationary cam-like abutment I), extending between the points c and f, and from the point e a guide-band E surrounds the disk to the end of the abutment at f, joining the ends of the latter to form a continuous surrounding, which is throughout the greater portion of its extent concentric with the disk. A lever F, preferably in the form shown of a bell-crank, is fulcruined at its angle, at g, to the face of the disk, preferably quite near its perimeter,

.journaled on a stationary shaft B, supportedv ,in suitable bearings a a, between which and One of the disk-hubs carriesa belt-pulley'C, through the medium of which to transand carrie-s on the end of its larger arm an antifriction-wheel 7L to bear against the inner faces of the abutment and guide-band. The other arm of the lever is pivotally connected with the stem e' of the piston j', working in a cylinder G, secured on the face of the disk, preferably as near as practicable to its perimeter.

A nozzle Zr: extends from the hub A and Acontains a port Z, connectedjby a pipe m with vthe cylinder G. The fluid-pressure supply IOO ton jbackward, with the effect of turning the lever' F on its fulcrum G and forcing the free end of the lever against the surface of the cam-like abutment D, along which it is caused to travel by the continued movement of the piston under the force of the steam-pressure against it. The backward movement of the piston by engaging the free end of the lever with the surface of thecam-like abutment causes the power of themoving piston to react, through the lever, against its fulcrum and turn the disk, and the force of the steam-pressure in the cylinder in expanding against the head thereof is also exerted against the disk in the direction of its rotation, thereby supplementing the driving force of the back pressure against the piston, and thus exerting its power in both directions for effecting the driving action. 'lhe free end of the lever will reach the end f of the abutment D at about the time that the port Z comes into registration with the exhaust-porto', through which the spent steam from the cylinder passes and exhausts through the duct c and pipe 0. The guide-band E, against the inner surface of which the wheel lz, moves after clearing the end f of the cam-abutment, turns the lever on its fulcrum to return the piston to the end of its forward stroke for the next operation and effects this without appreciable resistance, since the pressure in the cylinder is then exhausted therefrom and the free end of the lever rides against the guide-band without material friction. The force of one charge of the driving pressure against the piston may be sucient to produce a complete revolution of the disk A, the latter being' carriedaround by its momentum after the lever F clears the abutment at f, at which point the piston has reached the extreme end of its back stroke. When, however, the load on the disk A or resistance to be overcome by transmission to it of the power of the rotating disk is greater than can be overcome by the momentum of the revolving body, another piston and cylinder, with a second lever F, may be provided on the disk to be actuated by the driving-pressure power subsequently exhausted through suitable ports in the manner already described, the position of the second set of ports being such as to engage the free end of the second lever with the abutment ateas the first lever clears the abutment at f. In the same way any desired number of the cylinders, each having its piston connected with a lever F, may be provided on the body A to coperate in turn with a cam-abutment, and the provision of a plurality of these sets of driving parts affords the advantage of enabling any number thereof to be thrown into or out of operation according to variation in the resistance to be overcome or work to be done.

My invention may be embodied in various forms of mechanism. HenceIdo notintend to be understood as limiting it to the particular form of its embodiment nor to the particular details of construction shown and described in connection with that embodiment except in such of the appended claims as specifically apply to that form and specify such details. By way of examples ofmodilications of the illustrated mechanism it may be suggested that the lever employed is not necessarily of the bell-crank variety and that means for controlling the supplyto and exhaust from the cylinder of the fluid-pressure driving medium may be provided in any of various forms suitable for the purpose.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In a rotary engine, the combination of a thereby produce against said abutment the operative pressure which actuates said body.

2. In a rotary engine, the combination of a body forming one member having secured upon it a cylinder containing a reciprocating piston, a cam-like abutment extending part way about said body and forming another member, one of said members being rotatable, a guide extending about said body between the ends of said abutment, and means for controlling the supply to and exhaust from said cylinder of the driving-pressure medium, said medium operating in the cylinder to drive the piston and thereby produce against said abutment the operative pressure which actuates said rotatable member.

3. In a rotary engine, the combination of a rotatable body, a cylinder containing a reciprocating piston and supported on said body wholly between said center of rotation and perimeter to lie lengthwise across aline drawn to extend from said center to said perimeter, a cam-like abutment extraneous to and adjacent to said body, a lever fulcrumed on said body and connected with the piston and extending to engage said abutment, and means for controlling the supply to and exhaust from said cylinder of the driving-pressure medium,

said medium operating against the piston to engage the lever with said abutment and rotate said body.

4. In a rotary engine, the combination of a body forming one member, having secured upon it a cylinder containing a reciprocating piston, a cam-like abutment extending part way about said body and'forming another member, one of said members being rotatable, a guide adjacent to said body between the ends lof said abutment, a le'ver fulcrumed on saidY ICO body, connected With the piston and carrying on its free end an an tifriction-Wheel to engage said abutment and guide, and means for controlling the supply to and exhaust from said cylinder of the driving-pressure medium, said medium operating against the piston to engage the lever with said abutment and rotate the rotatable member.

5. In a rotary engine, the combination of a rotatable body carrying a cylinder containing a reciprocating piston, a stationary cam-like abutment extending part Way about said body,

a guide adjacent to said body between the ends of said abutment, a lever fulcrumed on said body, connected with the piston and carrying on its free end an antifriction-Wheel to engage said abutment and guide, and means for controlling the supply to and exhaust from said cylinder of the driving-pressure medium, said medium operating against the piston to engage the lever at said Wheel With said abutment and rotate said body.

6. In a rotary engine, the vcombination of a body forming one member, having secured upon it a cylinder containing a reciprocating piston provided with a stem, a cam-like abutment extraneous to and adjacent to said body and forming another member, one of said members being rotatable, a bell-crank lever ful-V crumed on said body and having one of its arms connected with the piston-stem to engage Vits other arm With said abutment, and

Ameans for controlling the supply to and exhaust fromv said cylinder of the driving-pressure medium, said medium operating against the piston to engage the free end of said lever Withsaid abutment and rotate said rotatable y member.

gage the Wheel end of said lever with said abutment and rotate said body.

MORTIMER B. MILLS.

In presence of-- W. B. DAVIES, M. S. MAoKENzIE. 

